Energy Science & Engineering (Mar 2025)

Key Technologies for Horizontal Well Development in Deep Tight Sandstone Reservoirs

  • Yiting Guan,
  • Xin Cheng,
  • Xiaoyang Chen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ese3.2068
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 3
pp. 1323 – 1336

Abstract

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ABSTRACT Deep tight sandstone oil and gas reservoirs are exerting an increasingly crucial role in the augmentation of fossil energy reserves and the provision of energy. On account of the intricate geological conditions and the deficiency of a comprehensive set of exploration and development engineering technologies as well as supporting processes, the present development of deep tight sandstone oil and gas reservoirs remains in its nascent stage. Through the analysis and generalization of the horizontal well development technology for deep tight sandstone oil and gas reservoirs, a series of technologies have been established, encompassing reservoir geological evaluation and modeling, horizontal well development reservoir engineering validation, horizontal well geological design, and enhanced oil recovery processes. By taking the C 6 reservoir in Ordos basin, China as the research subject, in light of the research outcomes regarding the damage mechanisms and potential damage factors of tight sandstone oil and gas reservoirs, a geological evaluation approach based on the well log response characteristics was constructed, clarifying the porosity and permeability features of the C 6 reservoir, establishing the numerical model of the oil reservoir, and further elaborating the methods for dividing the development layers, selecting the development well pattern, and determining the development well density. The design parameters of horizontal well‐segmented hydraulic fracturing were meticulously optimized, resulting in a minimum cluster spacing of 7 m and a maximum cluster spacing of 20 m. Given the influence of horizontal stress differences, the optimum fracturing density was ascertained to be 16 perforations per meter, and the optimal fracturing fluid volume was identified through simulation to range from 12 to 25 m3/m. The crucial technologies for the development of tight sandstone oil and gas reservoirs in horizontal wells have been clearly identified, offering theoretical direction for the efficient exploitation of deep tight sandstone oil and gas reservoirs.

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